Monthly Archives: April 2017

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is becoming known at the best record of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life. The remains of dinosaurs—hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and tyrannosaurs—are impressive, with more than 50 genera of dinosaurs represented. There are more than 5,000 square km of fossil-rich Late Cretaceous rocks exposed. The realization of the fossil riches in the area did not come until the 1980s. More than 800 fossil locations are known (Stokstad 2001). In 2011, the sixth entirely new species of dinosaur was discovered in the monument. Fossil of plants and invertebrates are also preserved with the dinosaurs. The monument contains the Wolverine Petrified Forest, the second largest Late Triassic fossil forest known (Ash 2001). The park offers scenic drives, slot canyons, hoodoos, dinosaur tracks, and arches. The three major sections, from west to east, are the Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Escalante River canyons. This is one of the most remote areas in the lower 48 states and well deserving as a national monument under the Antiquities Act.

This area includes the watersheds of the Vitim, Olekma, and Aldan Rivers (tributaries to the Lena), as well as the upper Amur River/Heilongjiang River watershed. These rivers drain a mountainous region of boreal forests and tundra, with the Stanovoy Range, Stanovoy Plateau, Vitim Tableland, Yablonovoy Range, Greater Hinggin Range, and Dzhagdy Range being prominent. Although boreal forest occupies most of the area, mixed deciduous forests are in the southeast and grasslands are in the south of the map area. The Daursky Biosphere Reserve (Torey Lakes Ramsar Site) is described under the Mongolian grasslands ecoregion (PA 813). This region has been the site of recent fossil discoveries that changed the way we think about evolution. For example, based on findings at the Kulinda Fossil Site, it can be concluded that feathers were not unique to the ancestors of birds and may even have been quite widespread.

Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests

PA 426, Manchurian Mixed Forests, occupies portions of Amur, Heilongjiang, and Inner Mongolia.The diverse mixed forest of pine and broadleaf deciduous trees supports species of birch, poplar, willow, oak, and ginseng. One Ramsar Site, the Heilongjiang Nanweng National Nature Reserve (N51˚19’ E125˚23’) is 229,523 ha located in the Songling District of Inner Mongolia, administered by the Da Hinggan Ling Prefecture of Heilongjiang province. Extensive marshes in the Nen River system on the south slope Yilehuli Mountains are forested with mixed conifer forests. Siberian crane and musk deer are present. It is an Important Bird Area for swan goose, lesser white-fronted goose, and scaly-sided merganser.

Huma River Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang (N52˚21’ E124˚48’ west end) is 60,000 ha and extends along the river from east of Tahe to the confluence with the Heilongjiang River. It is an Important Bird Area for swan goose, lesser white-fronted goose, Baer’s pochard, and scaly-sided merganser.

PA505, Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests are found in Amur, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia,and Zabaykalsky. A unique flora (Daurian) of larch, oak, hazel, alder, birch, poplar, and elm is found in this mountain area. The forests were mostly uncut until the 20th century and constitute the largest single timber stand in the world. The mountains are the southern limit of wolverines, lynx, and elk. The Greater Hinggan Mountains divide the Manchurian plain from the Mongolian plateau. The area is the site of one of the largest wildfires in recent history, known as the Black Dragon fire. It took place in 1987. It was started by a temporary employee operating a brush cutter, which caught fire and spread to grasslands and nearby woods on May 6, 1987. Other fires started burning about the same time in Russia and China. The fire eventually burned millions of acres in China and Russia (Pyne, 1989; Salisbury, 1989).

The Gen River and the Genhelengshuiyu Nature Reserve (N51˚0’ E122˚0’) is an Important Bird Area for Baikal teal, redlk-crowned crane, and Siberian crane.

Hanma Nature Reserve, Inner Mongolia (N51˚35’ E122˚42’), is 107,348 ha on the main ridge of the Greater Hinggan Mountains. It is an Important Bird Area for scaly-sided merganser and red-crowned crane.

Huma River Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang (N52˚21’ E124˚48’ west end) is 60,000 ha and extends along the river from east of Tahe to the confluence with the Heilongjiang River. It is an Important Bird Area for swan goose, lesser white-fronted goose, Baer’s pochard, and scaly-sided merganser.

Huzhong Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang (N51˚37’ E123˚3’), is a conifer forest of 167,213 ha. It is an Important Bird Area for swan goose, lesser white-fronted goose, Baer’s pochard, and scaly-sided merganser.

Mangui, Inner Mongolia (N52˚8’ E122˚12’) is an Important Bird Area for swan goose, scaly-sided merganser, red-crowned crane, and Siberian crane.

Boreal Forests/Taiga

PA601, East Siberian taiga, is the most extensive natural forest of larch in the world. The portions on the map are in Amur, Buryatia Republic, Irkutsk, Sakha Republic, Zabaykalsky and Inner Mongolia.

Baissa, Buryatia Republic (N53˚18’ E112˚6’) is the most important locality for fossil insects from the early Cretaceous. More than 10,000 specimens of insects have been collected, many of which are aphids. Fossils of spiders, ostracods, snails, bryozoans, and fish also have been found (Homan, Zyla, and Wegierek, 2014).

Ivano-Arakhleisky State Natural Landscape Reserve (Zakaznik), Zabaykalski Krai (N52˚13’ E113˚54’) consists of six large lakes in a larch, aspen, and birch forest zone along the Khilok River, a tributary of Lake Baikal.

Vitim Event, Irkutsk (N58˚16’ E113˚27’), an explosion that flattened trees over a wide area, took place in 2002 and is believed to be the site of a comet explosion, similar to what occurred in Tunguska.

PA 609, Trans-Baikal Conifer Forests, are forests of larch and pine adjacent to Lake Baikal. The portion shown is in Zabaykalsky Krai and includes Chita. The southern slopes have steppe, and there is permafrost over a wide area.

Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands

PA 804, Daurian forest steppe, is a mostly grassland area supporting scattered forests of birch and willow. Mongol Daguur (Mongolian Dauria) Strictly Protected Area, East Aimag, Mongolia (N50˚3’ E114˚50’) is across the border from the Russian Daursky Biosphere Reserve. It is a low mountainous area with grasslands and numerous lakes, ponds, and wetlands supporting migratory birds. It is an IBA for six species of crane, the swan goose, and waterbirds and is also habitat for the Daurian hedgehog. Khukh Lake on the Teel River in the southern part of the area is an IBA for swan goose, white-naped crane, and hooded crane. Forests of willow, birch, and aspen are also present.

Aginskaya Steppe Zakaznik, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia (N50˚44’ E115˚0’) is part of the Aginskaya Lakes IBA for breeding swan goose, saker falcon, great bustard, and yellow-breasted bunting. This is a saline lake and marsh area. Within the reserve, Gorbunka Lake is an alkaline lake with cyanobacteria and meadow vegetation northwest of Kunkur.

Gornaya Steppe Zakaznik, Zabaykalsky Krai (N50˚0’ E113˚22’) is along the Middle Onon River, which is an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area for the swan goose, saker falcon, great bustard, and Siberian crane.

Kulinda Fossil Site, Zabaykalsky Krai (N52˚30’ E116˚30’, location approximate), is on the Olov River west of Chernyshevsk. This is the location of the recent find of Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, a 1.5-meter-long bipedal herbivorous dinosaur. The animals had small scales around the distal hindlimb, larger imbricated scales around the tail, monofilaments around the head, and featherlike structures around the humerus, femur, and tibia. Feathers coexisted with scales and were potentially widespread among the entire dinosaur clade. Feathers were for insulation and signaling and only later co-opted for flight. The dinosaur is from Cherynyshevsky District, Olov Depression, in a deposit with abundant well-preserved fossils of plants, insect larvae, and freshwater crustaceans that suggest deposition in a low-energy, probably lacustrine, freshwater environment. There was local volcanic activity. The pedal scales of birds were derived from feathers; the development of scales requires inhibition of feather development. This inhibition is lost in breeds with feathered feet (Godefroit et al., 2014).

Tsasucheisky Bor State Natural Reserve (Zakaznik), Zabaykalsky Krai (N50˚25’ E115˚10’) is a high terrace on the right bank of the Onon River. This 40-km-long river terrace contains Krylov pine forests, a subspecies of scotch pine.

Urul’guveem hollow, Zabaykalsky Krai (N50˚25’ E117˚24’) is a grassland steppe area and IBA for the black stork and great bustard.

PA 813, Mongolian-Manchurian grasslands. Flat to rolling grasslands provide habitat for wild ungulates and are used for sheep and goat grazing. Torey Lakes Ramsar Site and Daursky Biosphere Preserve, Zabaykalsky Krai (N50˚0’ E115˚32’), is an area of steppe, rivers, and islands which support 90 species of breeding birds and 42 mammals. The lakes are an IBA for Baer’s pochard and Siberian crane. The area also supports patches of Pinus sylvestris forest. The Torey Lakes are salty and dry up every 20 or so years. North of the lakes are granite hills. Evidence of human settlement dates back to 4,000 years.